Guest Book

I chose Mara House because of her helpful and informative blog. I found Mara herself to be equally helpful and informative at all stages of my travel planning. She knows Egypt well and was invaluable at helping us to prioritise what we could do during our short stay.

For us, the highlight of the trip was Cairo. Mara's guide Suzy was excellent--knowledgeable, friendly, and overall a complete delight. She helped us negotiate our camel ride at Giza and buy things at the grocery store without getting ripped off, and she directed us to restaurants with prices printed on the menus so we didn't have to negotiate the price of dinner. She made visiting Cairo completely hassle-free, which was just wonderful for us.

We also enjoyed staying at Hotel Steigenberger in Cairo, which booked through Mara. She was able to match the price of booking.com but threw in free breakfast for the 5 of us (and the breakfast was excellent!).

In Luxor itself, we had a nice stay too. Mara House is a B&B off the beaten path. Our room was very spacious--more room than we needed for our family of 5, which was a surprise and delight. Amr was friendly and hospitable and a great home cook. We were surprised to have our sleep disturbed at dawn by the call to prayer, but in retrospect we shouldn't have been--that's just life in an Islamic country! I think we would have preferred to stay closer to downtown Luxor, but again, in the context of a comprehensive travel solution that included a chauffeur for anywhere we wanted to go, it was not a deal-breaker.

Mohamed, our guide in Luxor, was also very knowledgeable and personable, and did his job as a tour guide well. However, I found him less assertive than Suzy at protecting us from the hassle of street vendors and unwanted "helpers" at various points along the way (especially on the Valley of Kings tour). I think Mohamed is empathetically looking out for the livelihoods of the people whose economic circumstances are regrettably not great by not denying them opportunities to earn tips--and I understand and even respect that (even though it feels a bit like emotional extortion to have to tip for a service that was neither desired nor useful). But I was a bit disappointed at the level of hassle for me while touring Luxor, especially after a perfect trip to Cairo with Suzy.

But all in all, I would recommend Mara House as a travel agency as well as a B&B. We had a great trip and the level of hassle was lower than it would have been without the presence of our guides and drivers in both destinations. And I very much appreciated Mara's help as a travel planner--she saved me from several potential pitfalls and guided me towards a vacation we will always remember

Traveled as family of 5 Feb 2022. Reviewed on Tripadvisor April 2022

Booked 3 nights in Luxor and 3 nights in Cairo with tours